BIG GUNS.
ii. facility

SAND SWIRLS around the five kids as they run into the deteriating building. The soldiers closely following behind, their hands tightly gripping their guns, which Abe doesn't fail to notice. Their boots pound against the now hard floor. The five kids look around their new surrounding, taking every detail in.

Mal being the only one brave enough to ask the two questions on everyone's mind, "Where are we? Are we safe?"

"Yes," a voice replies, instantly making the five vulnerable kids look towards him. Mal grabs Shirley and pulls her closer to him, tightly tucking her under his arm as Abe blocks Luther and Chavez with her arms.

"Who are you?" Abe ask firmly.

An impish smile crawls along the man's face. "Mr. Janson, I'm the man who runs this place. I'm also the reason you all are still alive."

Abe, Chavez, and Luther share a hesitant glance with each other. They silently agree to not fully trust this man. "Where are we?" Mal asks again.

"For us, its a sanctuary. You all should think of it as a way station, kind of a home between homes."

"Does that mean you're taking us home?" Shirley asks, her soft voice cracking.

"No," Abe answers her softly. "Our homes wouldn't be there anymore, remember the video?" She elaborates.

Janson looks at Abe an unexplained emotion flickering in his squinted eyes. "Unfortunately, Abe here, is correct," he says, backing up the girl making her look at him in confusion. "There wouldn't be much left of wherever you came from, but we do have a place for you. A refuge, outside the Scorch, where WICKED will never find you again. How does that sound?"

"What's in it for you?" Chavez asks roughly. "Why would you help us?"

Janson chuckles. "You're not a very trusting lot, are you?"

Abe crosses her arms before speaking up, her tone defensive,"Well excuse us for not trusting the men who convieniently rescued us right after we got out of the maze. Amazing how you guys knew exactly where we were and exactly what time to come."

"Almost like it was planned," Luther accuses, his arms crossed much like his twin's.

Janson chuckles again. "Listen kids, the world out there is in a rather precarious situation. We're all hanging on a thin thread, we need to be helping each other. Especially if we want to save humanity and the fact that you kids can survive the flare virus, makes you everyone's best chance.

Unfortunately, it also makes you a target as no doubt by now you've noticed. But beyond this door lies the beginning of your new lives, that is, if you can trust us enough to walk through them," he finishes his speech, making eye contact with Abe.

Abe purses her lips, unsure of what to do. She shares a long look with her brother, almost like they were communicating with each other. She looks back at Janson and nods her head.

Janson grins and opens the doors for them, "Now, let's do something about that smell."

Abe and Shirley both walk into the the brightly lit room. Shirley's hair still damp from showering and Abe's curly hair now braided. Abe searches the room for their friends.

"There!" Shirley says while pointing to a table where their friends are sitting along with a freckled face boy.

The two girls quickly walk over to them. Luther, who notices their presence, gives them a quick greeting before introducing them to the new kid. "Abe Shirley this is Aris, Aris this Abe and Shirley."

"Hi," Shirley excitedly greets before taking a seat next to Mal.

Abe gives him a once over before cautiously greeting him, "Hi."

Aris gives her a nod in return. "Aris, was in a maze two. Actually all of these kids were," Luther informs his sister.

Abe looks around at the fifty or so kids chatting, laughing, and eating. "All of these kids were in mazes?" Abe repeats in confusion. "Were they all the same?"

"Aris was just about to explain what his maze was like before you came," Chavez tells her, as he messes with a napkin.

Abe takes a seat in front of Aris and next to Mal, giving him her full attention.

"Uh, our maze was really cold. It snowed a lot.. and the maze was made of ice... The Skaters would skate around it and map everything out... They're was a bunch of girls, I was the only guy."

"Wait, your maze was made of ice?" Abe asks in disbelief.

Aris nods. "Yours wasn't?"

Chavez furrows his eyebrows. "No, ours was made of stone."

"We also didn't have snow," Abe adds on. "We only had the sun and rain, they would alternate."

Luther nods. "And ours was a mixture of boys and girls, it was completely equal."

"Oh," Aris replies looking down at his tray. "I wonder why yours was so different?" He asks no one in particular, his thin eyebrows furrowing and his bottom lip bulging in a pout.

"I don't know," Abe says before shaking her head. "It's almost like they're-" Abe gets cut off as Janson walks into the room, a clip board in his hand and three men behind him.

"Good evening, gentlemen. Ladies," Janson greets. "You know how this works. If you hear your name called please rise in an orderly fashion, join my colleagues behind me where they will escort you to the eastern wing."

"What is this? What's going on?" Abe asks, her voice tinted with panick.

"Shh!" A kid from another tables shushes her.

Abe purses her lips in frustration deciding to listen to the kid and just be quiet.

"Your new lives are about to begin," Janson says, a wide and unsettling grin on his face. "Bruce. Reagan. Mary. Austen. Rosa. Cleo," Janson lists off. "Albert and Garland. Now, now, don't get discouraged. If I could take more, I would. There's always tomorrow. Your time will come. Go on, eat up."

Abe quickly turns around to face Aris, her braided hair whipping against her cheek in the process. "What was that? Where are they going? Why did he take them?"

Chavez grins. "Slow down Abe, one question at a time. You're scaring him," he teases.

"They're getting out of here, at leasts that's what he says," Aris tell them.

"Where they going?" Luther asks.

Aris shrugs. "A safe place, some kind of farm. Away from WICKED," he says quietly before playing with the spoon in his yoghurt.

Abe purses her lips and looks down at the table in thought. Mal loudly places a tray filled with food on the table, jumping Abe out of her reverie. "You guys need to eat," he says in a motherly tone before passing out the food her grabbed to his friends.

"Thank you," they all say once given their food. Silence fills the table as the six kids eat, different thoughts on their minds.

NOTE.
idk if any of you read them but in the tmr graphic novels group b's maze was like antartica and they were called icers which is what i decided to go with when i had aris describe it.